Communication systems can be categorized as conforming to either wired or wireless standards. Implementations can range from local wireless networks in the home, to the national and international cell phone networks, to the Internet.
Each communication system deployed typically conforms to one or more of a number of existing standards. Wireless standards include the IEEE 820.11 wireless local area network (WLAN), the advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), Bluetooth, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA, local multi-point distribution systems (MMDS) and various proprietary implementations of such standards. A wireless local area network (WLAN) is widely used to provide access to the Internet with mobile devices.
A new standard is proposed under the IEEE standard 802.11ac which provides for a multi-user packet. This standard is different than the 802.11n standard which allows for multiusers but the packet each user receives is unique to that particular user. Hence the packet length for each user is structured for that particular user.
In contrast in 802.11ac a multi user packet is provided. Referring now to FIG. 1, what is illustrated is block diagram of a multi user packet. This packet includes an L-SIG FIELD 12, a VHT-SIG FIELD 14, a VHT-STF FIELD 16, and a VHT-LTF FIELD 18. Thereafter there are three VHT-SIG FIELDS 22a-22c for each of the three users in the multiuser packet 10. Each of the VHT-SIG FIELDS 22a-22c has data 24a-24c associated therewith. Accordingly as is seen, when a multi-user packet is transmitted in these types of networks the packet is not structured across all users. Therefore, the packet length is determined by the data_length/throughout_rate of the user who has the longest packet. In this case, the user associated with VHT-SIG FIELD 22c. In wireless communication networks in order to maintain the transmission characteristics of the network, dummy/useless zeros (possibly scrambled) are padded at the end of the users' data that have shorter data lengths. When performing padding, a transmitter should be active to maintain automatic gain control (AGC) levels and a decoder within the transmitter is allowed to finish early. However, this type of system wastes valuable air time and in the multi user environment, the other users with shorter packets may execute all their data significantly before the packet.
In addition the type of coding scheme that can be utilized the channel utilized is important in efficiency considerations. Under 802.11n or 802.11ac there is a range of modulation and coding scheme (MCS) values that can be utilized by the users and transmitters when handling data within a channel. The values are MCS0 to MSC7. It is also known that the MCS that is chosen is dependent upon the amount of data that need to be transmitted. It is also known that the higher the value of the MCS the higher the signal noise ratio (SNR) and the less power that can be utilized to transmit the data. Furthermore the change in SNR across boundaries can be significant. For example there can be as great as a 3 db difference between data transmitted using MCS4 to that used when transmitting MCS5.
For example, in this embodiment user associated with VHT-SIG HELD 22a may be scheduled for a transmission of video data using MCS7 with nearly 1400 byte packets and 1 packet, user 22b is using VoIP with MCS1 and 7(frame)+20(codec)+40(ip/udp/rtp)=67 bytes with 2 packets, and the user associated with VHT-SIG FIELD 22c may be transmitting user data using MCS4 with 1024 byte packet. Therefore, the packet length in this example will be max (43, 21, 53)=53 OFDM symbols. This will cause 20% waste in efficiency for the user associated with VHT-SIG HELD 22a and 60% waste in efficiency for the user associated with VHT-SIG FIELD 22b. However, if PER is reduced, the voice quality can be improved for the user associated with VHT-SIG FIELD 22b. 
Accordingly it is desirable to use as low a value as possible to improve the efficiency of the wireless communication system. Moreover, feedback and/or channel imperfections will cause variability in signal to noise ratio (SNR) for the various users. Improving the reliability of transmission quality is useful for better utilization of bandwidth/time/stream. In addition, critical information within a packet may require better protection mechanisms associated therewith. Hence, there is a need to provide a method capable of improving the efficiency of the packet formation. The method and system should be adaptable, easy to implement, and cost effective. The present invention addresses such a need.